EKJ & A General Contractor LLC

Beautiful job.

He doesn’t excellent job

See above

Overall, I really enjoyed working with Jose and his crew. His telephone communication was excellent and his price was very reasonable. While he and his crew took a bit longer than expected on the first day of work, they did a good job and cleaned up after themselves. They were right on time for the second day of work, and did a nice job finishing the ceiling up. They cleaned up after themselves and left the place in very good shape. Nice guys, pleasant to work with. I'd definitely call them again.

Essentially Jose stole my money. I haven't seen any estimate to date. I've called him multiple times and no response. I sent him an email and no response. Lately, his voicemail has been full. I WANT MY MONEY BACK! Darryl

I spent about $3500 on the work. He was prompt, worked long days and got things done on time. The quality of the tiling and painting and everything was really good. The quality of the woodworking and railing was average because there were a few flaws with the railing.

Jose was great! He met us at Home Depot to help with the large items we were to provide. He was quick and his crew was very clean, leaving our house spotless each night when they left for the day. It took about three weeks for the project and we will certainly work with him again.

Very well. Went on time, fast work, good clean up.

I have been in the process of renovating my DC row house for six years. I have used many contractors during that time but this was my best experience by far. J and A Home Improvement were amazing to work with - highly-skilled, very affordable, and incredibly hard-working. Replacing the roof joist was an extremely difficult job, I cannot speak more highly of the quality of the work. The other big job was removing my bedroom ceiling and opening it up to use all 6+ feet of attic space. J and A had great suggestions for making it even better than I imagined (for example, they suggested using bead-board for the ceiling - which looks amazing) and yes they were suggestions, not a push to add unnecessary charges. The plasterwork, drywall and painting were all top notch. They were accommodating, respectful and a pleasure to work with - I will definitely use them again and again. In fact, I was reluctant to write such a positive review because I was afraid they would get so much work they wouldn't have time for any jobs I may have in the future.

I called and made an appointment for 1/15/2010 to get an estimate on a drywall job at my home. An appointment was set up for 10 to 10:30 am on 1/15/2010. There was no show on the 15th. I called back next day to see what happened. I was told I would get a call back same day with explaination. There was no call back. Very poor service!

J&A's professionalism was excellent. The work was done as committed and actually exceed expectations. The owner took a special interest in ensuring good customer service.

I have to preface this by saying I really like Jose. He is a great guy and very good to work with. He keeps you well updated on the work that he is doing and his prices are hard to beat. I had him replace a water heater and fix some furnace ductwork. This was done without a problem and I am really happy with this work. However, he also walled off a furnace room to reduce noise in a downstairs room. When he did this he did not provide adequate ventilation for a gas furnace. This was noticed by an HVAC specialist I had servicing my AC unit or else I wouldn't have even known. I had to remove the door and cut two big holes in the wall so that there would be adequate ventilation. I would recommend working with Jose, but mainly on carpentry work and simple insallations. The drywall he put up looks pretty good and the water heater works great. I would be wary of HVAC work that he completes. Other than that though, my experience was pretty good.

Contractor (Jose) was very polite in professional in showing up to my house to provide a cost estimate. After assurances that I would get an estimate within a week it never came. I emailed to follow up but the e-mail was ignored. I then called, only to get a lame excuse about his father having come to town and his taking time off so he didn't work for a while. This would have all been fine had he just acted professionally, told me he wouldn't be able to provide a quote or do the job, etc. All I ended up with was wasted time and broken commitments. I can't speak to the work but the professionalism is lousy.

I found J&A Home Improvement and Mr Jose Guardado through Angie's list. As a retired former purchasing manager (35 years) with a large chemical company I have dealt with many contractors and sub contractors. My priorities included: competitive pricing, quality work, quality materials and timely completion. Based upon a competitive price from Jose , the very favorable reports from others on Angie's List and a very favorable impression of Jose I decided to award J&A the job. I have been very pleased with this decision. Jose and his crew arrived every day at 7:30 / 8:00 AM. They worked full days. Nearing the completion of work, the team worked many late nights., Throughout the project, the crew would clean up and store their tools and equipment on a daily basis. If they were running late (rarely) Jose would call in advance. The project took approximately three weeks to complete. I was at the site everyday and had an opportunity to observe the work. Jose's team was professional and the workmanship was outstanding. Like any large project there were surprises and changes in the work scope, Jose would explain the options, listen to your ideas and suggestions, All changes were provided at a reasonable additional cost. Additionally, Jose provided high quality materials, Jose made an extra effort in this aspect. Jose was dedicated and diligent in providing an outstanding finished project, He was very accessible. He returned phone calls and emails promptly. He monitored the work and was available to answer any questions. I would highly recommend J&A Home Improvement. I will use Jose again for future work. My experience with J&A was excellent. Anyone who chose Jose and his colleagues as a contracting agency would be very pleased with that decision. His professionalism, expertise and workmanship exceed expectations. This is follow up report to my earlier report in May, J & A Home Improvement did a basement remodel for me , it's been six months since the work was completed , everything remains in excellent condition, no problems, sometimes it's a good idea to report on the conditions after usage (bath , plumbing, electrical, dry wall, flooring, etc). Everything works fine and looks good, same as the day when work was completed. I had Jose come back for a very minor issue, he came that day and corrected the issue. I plan to use Jose for several small jobs this spring.

Jose, owner of J & A remodeling, was by far the best contractor I have worked with in many years of renovating homes both in Washington and Atlanta. I highly recommend him! He gave me a fair and reasonable estimate for my kitchen renovation, stayed on schedule and budget, and went out of his way to make sure everything was done with the highest of quality. He showed up on time in the mornings and he and his crew were very considerate of my (usually cranky) condo neighbors. Jose also had a lot of excellent ideas for various design elements, particularly in terms of tile layout and designing my granite bar top. He also pointed out potential complications and proposed excellent ideas to approach them. I needed a wall knocked out in my kitchen and the entire process was done extremely well with minimal dust and no damage to the rest of my living area and dining area furniture, despite their close proximity. He re-plastered my walls seamlessly and made sure every surface was sanded down and looked perfect. He hung all of my IKEA cabinets and was very familiar with the (often confusing) IKEA kitchen system, making sure everything was in the correct place, position, etc. Jose and his crew also laid my new porcelain tiles and installed all new lighting throughout my condo. Jose is quite knowledgeable in many different areas and I have seen other examples of his work, including a whole house renovation and a very high-end kitchen and master bathroom renovation. I feel confident saying he can handle the most complicated of projects!

Jose and his crew were punctual and worked very hard throughout each day. The total job took about two weeks, which is what he had estimated. They began with the walkway and steps and did an exceptionally nice job with it. It was obvious the crew took pride in their work, and it showed. I didn't even mind when they signed their names in the concrete at the end of the process. As with any 100 year-old house, new problems were discovered as the work progressed, but Jose checked each time on what we wanted to have done and the extra costs. Altogether it was a very good experience and we were pleased with the quality of the work. Jose and his crew were very professional throughout the process. We have received many compliments from our neighbors since the work was completed.

I submitted a previous report where I gave Jose an excellent rating, and it is still true that I enjoyed working with Jose and the electrical work he did for us was fine-but don't ever hire him to do heating and A/C work. I asked him about installing an exhaust fan in my office, so I could smoke in my office. I was suggesting it vent out the window, but he suggested we put it on the other wall, which has the furnace room on the other side of it, so he could vent it out the chimney. Sounded good to me-so we bought a fan and he installed it. I've had three contractors tell me since that this is not only completely against code, but potentially very dangerous. My office mates husband insisted that she install a carbon dioxide detector when he heard about it, and another HVAC expert who is helping us move some duct work made us promise we would not sleep in the house until we had this fan removed.

Jose was a joy to work with. We worked together over several long days fixing all sorts of little electrical problems both in our existing (long neglected) house and in the 75 year old empty house we just purchased across the street. We ran 500 feet of cat5 networking cable throughout the new office space, through holes Jose drilled for us, while he and his assistant did all the electrical stuff we needed expert help with. The only reason I ranked his work 'good' instead of 'excellent' was due to a splicing job his assistant did on a phone line that caused the Verizon technician much trouble a few days later when the phone lines were installed. To Jose's credit, the phone lines were not live yet, so they couldn't test it... but the bad splice was tucked away under the siding, so the Verizon guy only noticed a spice had been made after much testing and hassle. We absolutely plan to hire Jose again for other work we have planned on this old house... in particular, the fact that we can work together on things is a big plus. This way we can do big complicated jobs largely ourselves - getting the help we need on the parts we either don't know how to do, or are just bigger than we want to tackle alone.

They are always on time. They have really good reasonable prices. They are always very professional and very thorough with their work. I would highly recommend them.

Jose was incredibly accommodating, working us into his busy schedule even though were able to give him only a day's notice that we needed the work. He and his crew were efficient, professional and neat, working very hard to adjust the connection, which ran into unexpected complications as a result of the design of the fume-venting ductwork in our kitchen. They even helped us to install the new range, which had been delivered as they worked.

I have an estimate, but I am going to ask him to break it down for us. We are still receiving estimates for this work. I thought it was a bit odd that he brought his child with him to give us our estimate.

Mr. Jose Graudado of D& S Home Improvements met me the same day I contacted him. He provided a very reasonable estimate that same day and work was completed in the established time frames. The dry wall work performed by Mr. Guardado and his staff was very professionally done with a nice smooth custom finish. The seaming of the dry wall is so perfect, you can t tell where one seam starts and the other ends. The finished dry walls hide every crack and hole and resulted in a seamless finish to my basement. I even had him to tile my bathroom walls. I really liked how Mr. Guardado expanded on my ideas and offered up suggestions for improvements that delivered a warmer and a more polished look to my basement and bathroom than I could ever image. I can t get over how my rat trap of a cellar has been transformed to a warm and toasty family room and the bath room exhibits a clean and polished look.

It was a lot of work, and the crew worked long hours to get it done in 2 weeks. The floor was done as a separate project after the structural work was complete and painted. The work itself was excellent. The crew was easy to get along with, and Jose was easy to talk with. Whenever I had a concern, Jose and I discussed the matter and he addressed it to my satisfaction. My partner and I are very pleased with the outcome of the renovation. Jose was also helpful at the green design store where I purchased the bamboo flooring. He met me at the store to help guide me through selection and purchase and was careful to ask specific questions about installation and care that proved very valuable in terms of getting the most out of our floor choice. Jose is a competent, professional contractor and trades person and can manage a project well.

I found Mr. Jose to be professional, prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable. He provided me with a written estimate within hours of assessing the project. I was very nervous about the project. Mr. Jose assured me that he would complete the job on time and that he would be responsible for any problems. His team was meticulous, and they seemed to have pride in the work that they were doing. After 1 day, I stopped being nervous. Mr. Jose treated my home with tender loving care. He did a great job!

The hardest part of the job was getting Jose to give me a quote. If you're willing to accept his verbal quote, and wait a bit for the written one, then you can start on your job as soon as he has an opening. Get your ducks in a row-pick out your wood if it's a deck and do a drawing, have your plans done, your floors chosen and ordered, as well as appliances, and cabinets and paint because once the crew starts, they don't stop. Jose likes to work where he buys the materials for the construction, but you buy the appliances, cabinets, flooring, etc. That way, you skip the traditional 25% contractor's mark-up, which was important, because I had a pretty tight budget. My new 425 square foot deck was finished in three days (I asked to do the sealing myself, to save money). If I'd had done what I was supposed to do, my kitchen would have been done, from demo to completion, in about 2 weeks. I changed a window placement, Jose didn't complain or give attitude, they just did it.